Concealed radiator



June 18, 1935. -L.-P. DWYER CONCEALED RADIATOR Filed June 12, 1931Patented June 18, 1935' PATENT] I OFFICE 2,005,226 CONCEALED RADIATORLawrence P. Dwyer, Winnetka, Ill., assignor to O. A. Dunham Company,Marshalltown, low

a corporation of Iowa Application June 12, 1931, Serial No. 543,871

, g 4 Claims.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inconcealed radiators for heating systems, particularly steam or vaporheating systems, and relates to an improved assembly 5 adapted to beinstalled as a unit within the building wall and comprising a casinghaving an inlet and an outlet for the air to be heated, a radiator to bepositioned within the casing, and the necessary appurtenances forcontrolling the heat output.

' The importance of keeping all of the space in a building available foruse, as well as the desire to avoid having heating equipment spoil theinterior decorative eifect or design, has made concealed radiation verydesirable. To accomplish this result the radiator is installed in arecess in the wall and delivers its heat principally by means ofconvection air currents, the air flowing into and through the recess andin contact with the radiator and being again discharged into the roomafter being heated. In view of the limited space available within thewall, it is desirable to provide a heating unit having the greatestpossible heating capacity in proportion to the space occupied thereby.

The present invention relates particularly to the casing in which theradiator is mounted and enclosed, and the inlet and outlet grilles forcontrollingthe flow of air in contact with the radiator. The radiatingapparatus .isadapted to be assembled at the factory and shipped andinstalled as a unit, provisions being made for adjusting the height ofthe casing to Ithewall space available and for mounting and securing thecasing within the wall, and for readily attaching the pipes of theheating system to the radiator.

The general object of this invention is to provide an improved concealedradiator assembly such as briefly described hereinabove and disclosedmore in detail in the specifications which follow.

Another object is to provide an improved casing or housing for theradiator which is adjustable for use in wall recesses of differentheights.

Another object isto. provide an improved casing adapted to completelyhouse the radiator and the traps and valves associated therewith, andadapted to permit the ready attachment of the necessary piping.

Another object is to provide an improved concealed radiator and housingtherefor. adapted to be assembledand shipped as a unit and protectedagainst plaster, dirt and other building, material after the radiatorunit is installed and during the (Cl. 237-79) y a time the buildingconstruction is being completed."

Another object is to provide improved means for mounting the inlet andoutlet grilles on the housing after the radiator assembly has beeninstalled in the wall.

Another object is to provide improved panels for enclosing the inlet andoutlet openings during the shipment of the assembly and while thebuilding construction is being completed (particularly the plasteringoperation), including means for protecting the bolt-holes whereby thegrilles are attached to prevent these holes from being filled withplaster. p

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be. more apparentfrom the following detailed description of certain approved forms ofmechanism constructed according to the princir Fig. 2 is a similarperspective view showing-h the radiating units installed before the wallhas. been completed by adding the lathing and plaster.

Fig. 3 is a sectional perspective view of the upper half of the casing.

Fig. 4 is a sectional perspective ,view, of the lower half of thecasing.

The principal elements of'this assembly in-- clude, the casing orhousing consisting of the upper casing section A and the lower casingsection B,v the upper outlet grille C and the lower inlet grille D, andthe heating mechanism housed within the casing. The assembly is fittedwith the panels J and K while-the assembly is being shipped andinstalled, and the grilles lC'and D are substituted for these panelsafter the assembly is installed and the building construction has beencompleted.

The casing members A and B are built up of suitable rather heavy sheetmetal, the upper section A comprising a rear wall I, end walls 2, and afront wall 3, this casing section being'open at the bottom but closed atthe top by an. upper wall 4. Thewidth of'the casing between the endwalls 2 is sufficient to enclose all of the radiator parts, but isnottoo wide to be received within the recess between two of the uprightstuds 6 of the building frame- The depth of the casing between the rearwall I and front wall 3 is such that the casing can be completelyreceived within'the recess between the inner and outer sheathings of thewall, and preferably the dimensions of the entire housing are such thatthe rear and end walls thereof do not contact with the building membersso that there will be an insulating cushion of air surrounding allexcept the front side of the radiator assembly. If

desired, a layer of heat insulating material may ter) and enclose theoutlet passage. The collar has vertically extending flanges 9 along itsupper and lower edges which are removably attached to the casing memberby means of screw bolts. Similar flanges ID at the ends of the collarare attached to outwardly projecting bracket plates llw'hich in 'turnare .adapted to be secured by meansor nails or other suitable fasteningmeans to the upright studs 6 of the building frame. By making the collar1 removable, it is possible to replace the collar with one of propersize in case an error is made in the dimensions of the grille to beattached thereto, without having to remove and replace the entirecasing. A plurality of separate wires l3 are spot welded or otherwisesecured at their central portions M to the front face of wall 3, thefreeend portions I5 of these wires" being twisted about portions of thelathing and subsequently embedded in the plaster ll whereby the casingsection A is securely anchored in place with respect to' the wall.

,The} lower casing section B has an upper portion of generallyrectangular form but of slightly smaller dimensions than the lowerportion of the upper section A'whereby the sections A and B may betelescoped over one another. The upper end of easing B is open asindicated at 18, the edges of this open end being surrounded by smallinturned flanges l9 adapted to facilitate the telescoping of section Bwithin section A. The lower end of section B is closed by a bottom platehaving downturned flanges 2| adapted to be suitably attached to the sideand end walls of the casing whereby bottom plate 20 will be elevatedabove the supporting beams of the frame struc ture so as to provide aninsulating air space beneaththe casing. The lower portion of the frontwall 24 of casing B is cut away so as to provide an inlet openingextending across the entire width of the chamber, and a collar'25(generally similar to the collar I on section A) is secured about thisinlet opening. This collar 25 has upper and lower vertically extendingflanges 26 and 21 adapted to be removably secured to the section B, andend flanges 28 adapted to be secured to the bracket plates 29 which inturn are nailed or otherwise anchored at 30 to the studs 6. Theoutwardly extending flange 31 of collar 25 which surrounds the inlet airopening is somewhat longer than the flange 8 of the upper collar 1 sincethis lower collar not only extends through the lathing l6 and plaster I1 but also through the molding or baseboard 32. Openings 33 are cutthrough the end walls of the collar 25 and casing B topermit theinsertion of the inlet pipe 34 and the'outlet pipe 35 wherebyconnections are made between the heating system and the radiator withinthe casing. The bottom wall 20 may be provided with openings in case theinlet and outlet pipes 34 and 35 are to be led in through the bottom ofthe casing instead of through the end walls.

After the heating unit is assembled for shipment, and while the unit isbeing installed and the building wall completed, the outlet and inletopenings for the air are closed by the removable panels J and K (seeFig. 2). These wooden panels are adapted to fit within the respectiveopenings and are held in place by means of metal straps 31 secured at 38to the outer faces of the panels and having projecting ends 39 throughwhich are passed rather long screw bolts 40 engaged at their inner endsin threaded openings formed through the flanges 9, 2G, and 27 of thecollar and in reinforcing strips ll secured against the opposite facesof the casing walls. After the plastering I! of the wall has beencompleted, the bolts 40 are withdrawn and the panels J and K removed.

The grilles C and D are each provided with an inwardly extending collarportion or flange adapted to fit within the respective collars 'l and 25which enclose the outlet and inlet passages respectively, and eachgrille has an outwardly extending Vertical flange portion 44 adapted tooverlap the edges of the opening in the wall. The grilles are secured inposition by means of screw bolts 45 passed through suitable countersunkopenings formed in the flanges 44 and engaged at their inner ends in thethreaded holes formerly occupied by the bolts 40 which held the panels Jand K in position. It will be noted that these holes are occupied by thebolts 40 during the plastering operation whereby they will be kept openand clear for the reception of the grille bolts 45. The grilles C and Dmay be given any suitable ornamental configuration on their outersurfaces and are provided with the slits or openings 46 to permit thefree flow of air therethrough.

Suitable felt stripping is provided between the flanges of grille C andthe grille collar 7 to insure a tight joint and prevent injury to theadjacent portions of the building wall due to the possible leakage ofheated air. If desired similar felt packing may be used around the lowergrille D. A suitable damper mounted behind the grille C is operated byknob 59.

It will now be apparent that this radiating apparatus can be assembledfor the most part and shipped as a unit. The casing sections areinstalled in the wall recess, and by suitably adjusting the telescopingcasing sections, the vertical distance between the air inlet and outletopenings can be adjusted within reasonable limits to fit the particularinstallation. Each casing section is independently attached to the framestudding, the lower section being supported from the floor members, andthe upper section being additionally supported by means of the innerwall sheathing. Insulating air spaces or spaces for other heatinsulation are left around all of the walls of the casing except thefront wall whereby heat losses are minimized. By making thegrille-receiving collars I and 25 removable, these collars may bereplaced in case the desired grilles do not flt properly withoutnecessitating the entire reconstruction of' the casing member. Wheninstalled, the grille openings are temporarily closed by the panels Jand K whereby the interior of the casing and the grille-receivingcollars are completely protected during the plastering and wallfinishing operations, and also the screw holes whereby the grilles areeventually attached are protected against being filled with plaster bythe temporary screw bolts 40 which attach the removable panels in place.After the wall is completed these panels J and K are easily removed andthe grilles C and D positioned over the openings. All parts of theapparatus are entirely concealed except the grilles which may be givenany desired ornamental configuration to conform to the decorative schemeof the. room. The radiator is easily removed and replaced when necessaryby merely taking out the grille D. The pipe connections which connectthe radiator with the heating system may be led in through either theend or bottom walls of the casing as may be most convenient.

I claim:

1. A metallic casing for enclosing a concealed radiator, said casingbeing adapted to be positioned within a building wall and provided inits front face wth a lower inlet opening and an upper outlet opening,the casing comprising a plurality of telescoping sections, and wiressecured to the front wall of the casing and adapted to be engaged withthe lathing of the building structure and embedded within the plasterwall.

2. A metallic casing for enclosing a concealed radiator, said casingbeing adapted to be mounted within a building wall and provided in itsfront face with a lower air inlet opening and an upper outlet opening,and collars surrounding the open ings and comprising a flange portionadapted to project through the inner sheathing of the building wall andinner laterally projecting flanges removably attached to the casing.

3. A metallic casing for enclosing a concealed radiator, said casingbeing adapted to be mounted .within a. building wall and provided in itsfront face with a lower air inlet opening and an upper outlet opening,collars surrounding the openings and comprising a flange portion adaptedto project through the inner sheathing of the building wall and innerlaterally projecting flanges removably attached to the casing, andgrilles adapted to be removably attached over the openings and havingportions adapted to fit within the collars.

4. In combination with a concealedradiator, a metallic casing in whichthe radiator is mounted, said casing adapted to be positioned within abuilding wall and provided in its front face with a lower inlet openingand an upper outlet opening, there being outstanding flanges at thesides of the openings, said flanges being formed with threaded holes forreceiving screw bolts by means of which grilles are secured to thecasing when the casing is installed within the wall, panels fortemporarily covering the inleti and outlet openings while the assemblyis being.

shipped or installed, metal straps secured across the panels, and screwbolts extending through the straps and engaged in the threaded holes inthe flanges.

LAWRENCE P. DWYER.

